We are past halfway done. Maybe. Sort of, depending on how you look at it.

The spiritual halfway point is Harper’s Ferry in WV at the ATC headquarters. We had our photos taken and added to their annual log. We are numbers 432 and 433 to have our photos added this year.

Not all thruhikers get their photos in the book and not everyone who gets their photo added is attempting to thruhike but it’s still an idea of how many are making it this year.

The actual mileage halfway point is north of WV and shifts a bit each year as various trail reroutes are made annually. Chronologically we are past
the amount of time we scheduled to be halfway (we’re behind a bit). Personally I do not feel halfway through the trail. As I write this we are 1142.5 miles from Springer Mountain in GA and the mileage halfway point was 1093.something. The closest landmark to that is this unremarkable campsite where we stopped for lunch, about a tenth of a mile past it:

A bit further up the trail we encountered a more notable marker, made by a previous thruhiker:

So we’ve had several commemoratives of the halfway mark but I still need to relate the one that I remember best:

At Iron Furnace state park I tackled the “half gallon challenge” and breezed right through it. To celebrate their halfway point many thruhikers go into the camp store, buy a half gallon of ice cream and then eat it. Apparently it’s supposed to be tough for some folks. I ate mine slowly and was done in around 15 minutes. I could probably have done a twofer but I might have made myself sick so I stopped on a high point and went over to check out the new AT museum.

Right by the camp store is the hostel in an old mansion that was associated with the furnace works. It’s a grand old place with huge porches and a hidden room under the stairs rumored to have been a stop on the underground railroad.